Cell-based immunotherapy holds great promise for cancer treatment. However, it is often difficult to obtain a large number of anti-tumor specific effector immune cells that can effectively target tumor cells. Cytokine-induced killer cells (i.e., CIKs) are cytotoxic immune effector cells that have become a strong candidate for a new generation of anti-tumor immune cell therapy because CIKs have anti-tumor cytotoxicity and diverse T cell receptor specificities.
CIKs are a heterogeneous population of cells from ex vivo or in vitro expanded cells. CIKs can be generated in standard culture conditions in the presence of soluble factors, such as anti-CD3 antibodies, IFN-γ and IL-2. CIK cells can express both T-cell marker CD3 and natural killer cell (i.e., NK) marker CD56, and possess T and/or NK cell phenotypes. CIKs-based therapy became a promising cancer treatment mostly because CIK expansion is relatively easy, and CIKs have anti-tumor activity of T and NK cells without being restricted by the Major Histocompatibility Complex (i.e., MHC).
However, there are known challenges for cell-based immunotherapies. Cell-based immunotherapies are often dose-limiting, time-restricted, expensive, labor intensive, and have yet to be translated to routine clinical use.
Thus, there is a need to improve the current cell-based immunotherapies to provide more efficient and effective cancer treatments that are easier to prepare, have better clinical stability and efficacy, and reduced systematic toxicity. The present disclosure addresses this need to improve the cell-based immunotherapies by providing for novel compositions and methods that dramatically improve the treatment and management of cancer patients.